Sisters and Secrets. Eighteen years ago, Cass Deason Myers ran away from home and heartbreak. Now she's running away again, this time to the home she left behind. A preacher's wife, Cass finds herself questioning her faith and her marriage. Her sister's phone call asking for help with their mother provides the perfect opportunity to escape. Anna Deason-Fite-Turner doesn't want or need help for herself or her three daughters. But her mother is another story all together. Calling Cass is a last resort. But when Anna finds the bottle of pills in Momma's dresser drawer, she knows she has to call her sister. Unfortunately, Anna knows once Cass is home the whispers will start, and once again, everyone in town will compare perfect Cass to her failure of a sister, even though she's the one who stayed behind. Grace is Enough: a story about family, faith and the redemptive power of love.

This volume is designed to illuminate the educational experiences of Black women, from the time they earn their high school diplomas through graduate study, with a particular focus on their doctoral studies, by exploring the commonalities and the uniqueness of their individual paths and challenges. The chapters of this volume newly identify key factors and experiences that shape Black women's engagement or disengagement with higher education. The original research presented here - using an array of theoretical lenses, as well as qualitative and quantitative methods - not only deepens our understanding of the experiences of African American women in the academy, but also seeks to strengthen the academic pipeline, not only for the benefit of those who may have felt disenfranchised in the past, but for all students. The contributors eschew the deficit-focused approach - that implies a lack of social and cultural capital based on prior educational experiences - adopted by many studies of non-dominant groups in education, and instead focus on the strengths and experiences of their subjects. Among their findings is the identification of the social capital that Black women are given and actively acquire in their pre-collegiate years that enable them to gain greater returns on their educational investments than their male peers. The book further describes the assistance and the interference African American women receive from their peers during their transition to college, and how peer interactions shape their early college experiences, and influence subsequent persistence decisions. Whether studying how Black women in the social and natural sciences navigate through this often rocky terrain, or uncovering the extent to which African American women doctoral students access postsecondary education through community colleges, and their special needs for more mentoring and advising support, this book provides researchers and graduate students with rich information on how to successfully engage and succeed in the doctoral process. It also demonstrates to women faculty and administrators how they can become better navigators, guides, and advocates for the African American women who come after them.